WESTFIELD – This summer, the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Westfield is participating again in the Summer Food Service Program. Meals will be provided to all children throughout Greater Westfield free of charge.
Brown bag lunches will be given Monday-Friday at seven sites throughout the city: South Middle School’s Cafeteria August 18 to 29 (1-2 p.m.) at the Boys & Girls Club (1-2 p.m.)
Luches will be distributed from June 30 to August 22 at Powdermill Village (12:30 to 1:00 p.m.), Chapman Spray Park (11:45 to 12:15 p.m.), Colonial Pine Acres, and the Hubbard Spray Park and Edgewood Apartments (12:00 – 12:30p.m.).
Meals are free to any child from two to 18 years of age regardless of economic circumstance.
The Boys & Club site is busiest due to their hosting several summertime activities. The second largest site is the Hubbard Spray Park by the Vocational-Technical School.
Despite only being in operation for a few years, the summer food program served over 23,000 meals last summer, and is a continuation of the GWBG’s year round meal program, which serves dinner 24/7, 365.
“We partner with the Department of Education to extend free meals year round so that kids who typically receive a free breakfast and lunch during the school year aren’t all of a sudden without food during the summer months,” said Karissa St. Pierre, marketing and development director for the GWBG, before referencing the program’s unique literacy component. “One kid will receive a free book and read it to the rest of the kids while they’re eating, so at the same time as trying to bridge the food gap, we’re trying to bridge the literacy gap that occurs during the summer.”
“Programs like this are run in most cities around here, but I don’t think that component (literacy) really is,” she added. “It adds an additional service to it.”
Funded through the Department of Education, the GWBG’s staff distributes the meals to the children at each of the sites via food trucks.
“There are hot meals twice a week, and then it’s sandwiches, milk and fruit, and all of the food meets the federal guidelines for nutrition,” said St. Pierre. “Most people when they think ‘Boys & Girls Club’ think ‘a place to go play after school’, but it’s providing a large number of families who are really in need a guarantee that their kid is going to eat lunch or dinner that day.”
Charisse Angco, summer food coordinator for the GWBG, said that, in addition to the Department of Education, the Boys & Girls Club follows the rules and regulations of the Department of Early Childhood Education for the program.
The brand new Scholastic books which have been purchased for the program are a point of emphasis for Angco, who is beyond ecstatic about keeping students reading and engaged in the summer months.
“Every day at all of the sites, one child will receive a ‘winner’ tag in their lunchbag, and that child gets a free book,” she said. “The books are age appropriate, too, so if we have an eight-year-old, they get one appropriate for their age.”
Regarding children who deal with extenuating health circumstances, Angco said that accomodations will be made.
“Meals have lots of proteins and grains, and if someone comes in and is lactose intolerant, we’ll remember to give them juice or lactaid milk,” she said. “We listen to the needs of the children, not just say ‘here’s what we have.'”
If anyone in the greater Westfield area is interested in volunteering with the program, Angco suggests contacting Kellie Brown, director of operations for the Greater Westfield Boys & Girls Club at (413) 562-2301.
